Hi newbie from sunny Hampshire UK.

Hi my name is Paul and I have just entered into the ownership of my first Moto Guzzi. Unfortunatley with my rose tinted glasses and the speed needed to bag a bargain (no such thing, I know!) I now have in my pocesion a beautiful 2009 GRiSO. I researched the starting issues but somehow missed the "elephant in the room" cam followers. It has only done 3800 miles and shows no signs, but I know now that means nothing. Just a question and I know I will be probably get verbaly lashed but has anyone considered getting the standard followers re-hardened due to not having a spare grand to get it rollerised. If the system only failed due to the hardening treatment and the overall design was acceptable could this be an option.
Yours stupid southerner.

Hello Paul "stupid Southerner"

Mine failed at 2,200 miles.

The first thing to do is see if it has been completed already, just take off the cam covers and you will see, you may be lucky.  If you dont know what to look for then there are pictures on this site, or simply post of a picture of what you find.

I know its now summer and time to ride, but if the work has not been done then my advice is not to ride it. Mine was ridden and the damage caused meant that it needed a new crankshaft and crankcases.

Does it come with a full service warranty? If so then you can claim for the parts and only have to pay for labour. If you cannot afford the labour then you can install the parts yourself. There are plently of people here on this site and in the UK that have done that, so you will have plenty of support.

After all of this, you will end up with a very charasmatic and individual motorcycle, its well worth the hassle :-)

Oh and post some

Hi Sidrat
I've bought it privately and have contacted both previous owners who are both certain it has not been done. Unfortunatley the service history is non existence so I'm in the deep stuff. It does go back to my previous question if the standard followers can be retreated. I have spoken to a company who offer a process. He would not commit until he had seen the followers but said that it is no different from all of the other engine components he deals with ranging from race engines to classics. He said if it's doable it would be around the £100 mark. Just a thought..

To reduce chances of a tonguing from Roper, pop a valve cover and look.

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If flatties are found, proceed immediately to a garage that has a clue.


Welcome!

Thanks I will take a look, I will put on my lucky pants

No lucky pants are going in the bin, it's still got the crappy Moto Guzzi ones that they bought from a bloke in a back street in Milan. "Wanna buy some followers mate? Top quality, honest!!

Welcome ... and condolences.

All of us who have pre-roller engines have BTDT.

De$pite that, nothing (metal) makes me grin like the GRiSO.

Bill

Forget about alternative treatments they will not work Guzzi have already been down that route and failed.
Ring Twiggers at Loughborough and have a chat about your bike, they are the best people I know on the subject.

Thanks for your advise, at least it is Friday and I can have a few wets to drown my sorrows. I should of known better as I had an Alfa and experienced Italian engineering. I'm suprised they are world famous for pasta and not "chocolate"!!!!

2nd more hardening doesn't work - many of us have had more than one replacement set of flat tappets; many were 'extra hardened'....they still ate through the hardening and disappeared as fines into the sump. If you can't get warranty (worth a shout at least); it's still worth paying and getting a lifetimes worth of fun

Thanks for that I have just been checking on previous post. Is there anyone out there in the UK who does the best deals on these kits. I have a non drilled head 2009 so I guess I'm taking the heads off as well. Happy days! !

Don’t buy a ‘C’ kit, they are stupidly expensive. Get a ‘B’ kit and add the other bits you are going to need. That will be four shims, four valve guide oil seals, inlet and exhaust manifold gaskets and two head gaskets of the correct thickness. You’ll only know what thickness is needed when you take the heads off unfortunately but since the gaskets are expensive it’s worth waiting the extra couple of days as it will save you £100+. As for availability try TLM in holland, it’s where I buy my kits from.

While you’re doing maintenance don’t forget to grease the swingarm and shock linkage bearings.

Pete

Welcome to the Ghetto, Paul. Sorry to hear you're rollerless, but as everyone is telling you, you really have no choice but to make it right. It'll be worth it, you'll have an awesome bike that will repay you in spades with miles and miles of smiles!

Once again thanks for your help, I will address all of the above very shortly I hope. I love the bike and it's character and will look forward to the usual stormy relationship. Did I mention I had an Alfa once. Must be a sucker for a pretty face....

Paul i have had 2 alfa's and out of my 72 bikes so far owned 22 of them have been italian!

Well guys you were spot on. Stripped it all down yesterday heads off etc, and as you can see after 3800 miles the start of the rot. Appalling really, I'm off to my local dealer to see if they will do anything. I'm not holding my breath without any real service history...[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Good luck!

As I wrote earlier if you don't have any joy with the local dealer ring Twiggers. It could work out cheaper to transport the bike to Loughborough for them to do the work. He normally gets the factory to pay for the parts.

^^^^^^^that's who did mine^^^^^^^ recommended

I've just been to the main dealer CMW Motorcycles in Chichester, West Sussex who told me that they are not badly worn and I should put them back in the bike. I asked him if I should wait until it takes the crank out. As I thought though without the service history I was pissing in the wind....

Their response confirms they are not the right people for the job.

Gibbotvr wrote:

I've just been to the main dealer CMW Motorcycles in Chichester, West Sussex who told me that they are not badly worn and I should put them back in the bike. I asked him if I should wait until it takes the crank out. As I thought though without the service history I was pissing in the wind....

That's a worry-they are my local shop....

Yep my thoughts. I have ordered all the parts from KLM and will look forward to putting the beasty back together. Thanks for the advice.